THE Call of Duty franchise returns and does what it does best with jaw-dropping action and added gore.

MODERN Warfare or classic Call of Duty? If the historically fractious nature of the COD franchise has frustrated, Black Ops 2’s generation-spanning gameplay will be a brutal joy.

Cold War era and near-future combat is housed within the same campaign, and it’s a triumph. Whether machete-in-hand in the jungles of 1980s Angola, or flying in a futuristic wingsuit, armed with an EMP ironsight machine gun, it’s a whistlestop tour of duty, taking in every facet of warfare, both historical and imagined.

Though fun, the shooting gallery gameplay (punctuated by the odd repackaged mounted gun or airstrike) remains much the same, with the much-publicised branching storylines and lite real-time strategy elements proving superficial.

But storytelling does climb up a notch. Though the web of intrigue is dense, superb facial animations and some particularly grisly cutscenes (even for a COD game) support a narrative more compelling than the last two Modern Warfare titles. The tightly-scripted campaign wrestles control away from the player too often, but does allow for jaw-dropping action sequences that’d make even an Arnie flick look wimpy.

For many, the single-player campaign will be the sideshow to Black Ops 2’s multiplayer. Taking place completely in the 2020s, futuristic, robotic drone weaponry rules the roost.

Significant tweaks have been made to the series-standard multiplayer systems. Weapon and perk loadouts are now tied to a 10-point system (with skills and weapons each assigned a point cost), meaning you’ll have to carefully balance your gear before each round starts.

Wildcard abilities let you negate rules, allowing, for instance, an ability to carry two primary weapons into the fray.

Finally, the significantly expanded Zombies wave survival mode returns. Now taking place in a large faux-open world, you’re able to set up defences and upgrade weaponry as usual, but new team-based modes reward success by letting you turn the undead against your foes.

Delivering action in spades, BOps 2 shines in multiplayer and Zombies modes. Single player, as with the rest of the franchise, is shallow, but hits enough action-packed notes to entertain.

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